New California attorney general Xavier Becerra to lead state's Trump pushback

01/06/2017 06:00AM | 4763 views

By Alan Yuhas, The Guardian

Congressman Xavier Becerra
was appointed as California’s attorney general on Thursday, setting him up to
lead the state’s looming court battles with Donald Trump over climate change,
immigration and more.

A 24-year veteran of
Congress, Becerra will replace outgoing attorney general Kamala Harris, who won
a Senate seat last month. Becerra, 58, earned a law degree from Stanford
University and worked in the civil division of the attorney general’s office
before winning election to the House of Representatives.

Once there, he rose to
become the highest ranking Latino member and was a strenuous advocate for
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. His appointment makes him the state’s first
Latino attorney general.

California’s state
leaders, including Governor Jerry Brown, have promised to resist attempts by a
Trump administration to alter state policies on climate change, organized labor
and immigration. Eddie Kurtz, executive director of the Courage Campaign, a
progressive organizing group, hailed Becerra’s appointment, saying, “California
can – and should – be the tip of the spear for state-based resistance to Trump
and the Republican party’s inhumane vision for our country.”

Brown and Becerra said
they would protect California’s values. “Xavier has been an outstanding public
servant – in the state legislature, the US Congress and as a deputy attorney
general,” Brown said in a statement. “I’m confident he will be a champion for
all Californians and help our state aggressively combat climate change.”

“Governor Brown has
presented me with an opportunity I cannot refuse,” Becerra said on Thursday.
“As a former deputy attorney general, I relished the chance to be our state’s
chief law enforcement officer to protect consumers, advance criminal justice
reform, and, of course, keep our families safe.”

“California right now is
ahead of the country when it comes to clean energy, commonsense treatment of immigrants,
real health security and so much more,” he added.

Trump has not yet named
anyone to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but has placed a coal
lobbyist in charge of his EPA transition team and has called global warming a
hoax “created by and for the Chinese”. More recently, Trump told the New York
Times he believes there is “some connectivity” between human activity and
climate change, and said he has not yet made up his mind whether the US should
withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

The president-elect has
also promised to deport millions of migrants and cut federal funding to
“sanctuary cities”, where local authorities limit their assistance to federal
deportation. His other proposals that may violate the constitution include
penalties for free speech, a religious test for migration, retaining his
businesses and interfering with the justice system.

Mayors of two major
California cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco, are among those that have
promised to try to protect migrants from Trump’s encroachment into local
policies.

With Becerra as attorney
general, liberal California could play a similar role under a Trump
administration as the one performed by conservative Texas during the last eight
years of Obama’s administration.

Texas aggressively lead 46
lawsuits against the administration, questioning the president’s power on
immigration, climate change, healthcare and voter rights, among other issues.
The state has won seven cases so far, most prominently a 4-4 supreme court
decision that ultimately blocked Obama’s efforts to protect millions of
migrants from deportation.

The state has lost 12
cases, including a 2012 decision that upheld Obama’s signature healthcare act
as constitutional. In all, the suits lifted Texas’ attorney general’s office to
the head of the opposition against Obama – raising Ted Cruz to a Senate seat
and presidential campaign – and cost Texas taxpayers almost $6m.

Anthony Rendon,
California’s state assembly speaker, hinted at the future court battles
awaiting the Democratic party. “Becerra clearly has the experience to step into
this vital role,” Rendon said in a statement. “Just as important, he has great
tenacity and he respects the rights of all Californians – much-needed qualities
for an attorney general given the troubling times ahead.”